GOLF HONDA CLASSIC:GOLF GIVETH and golf taketh away.

“That’s golf, that’s why we love it so much,” said Graeme McDowell, whose midas touch has escaped him so far in Florida, leaving him nine strokes adrift of clubhouse leader Rory Sabbatini at the halfway stage of the Honda Classic.

The US Open champion, who was eventually happy to settle for a one-over par 71 and a four over total on another day of gusting winds in Palm Beach Gardens, has turned everything he’s touched to gold over the past ninth months.

Starting with his victory in the Celtic Manor Wales Open, the 31-year old has racked up three wins (including his first major), four third-place finishes and another couple of top-10s in just 18 starts.

It all seemed so easy. But suddenly, McDowell is searching for his muse again.

She shouldn’t be too hard to find after two grinding rounds on the Champion Course at PGA National.

Apart from holing a 25-footer from the fringe of the fourth, his 13th, for only his second birdie of the week, the longest putt McDowell has holed in two days was the speedy six-footer he drained for par at the eighth in yesterday’s second round.

“It’s a taxing golf course and my ball striking is not where I’d like it to be and I haven’t putted well the last two days, which is kind of bizarre,” said McDowell, who followed his birdie at the fourth with back-to-back bogeys that left him flirting with the cut line before he closed with two welcome pars.

“I’ve chipped the ball well, I pitched the ball well, I’ve hung in well around the greens. I’ve pace-putted well. But I’ve missed a few opportunities and the bogeys I have made for the last two days, apart from the one where I hit it in the water at the sixth, the other four bogeys were very straightforward five- or six- feet putts I should have made.

“All in all it’s been a brutal couple of days and I’m very happy to hang in there the way I have. You are never very happy with four over par but this is a par-70 golf course, which is hard at the best of times.

“I guess I am happy with myself and although I haven’t played my best, I have hung in well the last couple of days and if I can just find the middle of the clubface at the weekend I can make a score out there, I know I can.”

Starting on the back nine at three over par following an opening 73, McDowell racked up nine straight pars to remain in the pack before missing three birdies chances in a row on the first, second and third greens.

His birdie at the fourth gave him hope, but he made bogey off his best swing of the day at the 202-yard fifth, where his sweet seven-iron came up short of the green and he failed to get up and down.

A pulled drive into the hazard at the next forced him to pitch and putt from 53 yards to save bogey, leaving him with work to do to catch the leaders over the weekend.

Sabbatini, in contrast, had just 21 putts in a course recordequalling 64 that was the almost nine strokes better than the scoring average this week.

Meanwhile, Irish hopes of success in the Spanish Men’s Open Amateur Championship in Barcelona were dashed quickly yesterday.

The El Prat course was not a happy hunting ground for Alan Dunbar or Paul Dunne who were both bundled out in the first match-play round.

Dunbar from Rathmore was outgunned by Spaniard Adrian Otaegui and went down by 32 – and Otaegui later reached the quarter-finals.

Paul Dunne from Greystones battled hard against Goncalo Pinto and was ahead briefly but eventually succumbed on the home green and Pinto also later reached the last eight at the expense of Welsh man James Frazer.